NY to follow CDC guidance on not requiring quarantine for vaccinated people

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NEW YORK - New York will follow updated guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will not require certain people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to quarantine after being exposed to someone with the virus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday.

CDC recommendations released Wednesday apply to people who have received either the second shot of a two-dose vaccine or the first and only shot of a one-dose vaccine.

Once two weeks from full vaccination have passed, those people will not be required to quarantine after COVID-19 exposure if they experience no symptoms of the disease, Cuomo said. That exemption lasts 90 days after vaccination.

• CDC waives quarantine for vaccinated people after COVID-19 exposure, experts still say wear a mask

"From the outset of the pandemic, New York State has followed the science and listened to the experts, and quarantine requirements only for New Yorkers who have received both shots will be similarly updated to reflect the CDC's new guidance. However, the science regarding COVID transmissibility post-vaccination remains unsettled, and this updated guidance is not an all-clear for New Yorkers to let their guard down," Governor Cuomo and Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said in a statement. "All New Yorkers, including those who have been fully vaccinated, should continue to wear masks, social distance, and be smart until herd immunity is reached and this pandemic is fully relegated to the history books."

The state’s current rules allow people exposed to COVID-19 to end quarantine after 10 days without testing if they haven’t had symptoms.

New York reported another 10,099 positive COVID tests as of Wednesday, continuing the state's slow decline in COVID cases since the holiday season. Hospitalizations also fell to 7,342, but cases and hospitalizations are ticking up in the Bronx in particular, which averaged 986 daily new cases over the past seven days and reported 680 patients.

So far, over 1.7 million New Yorkers have had the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine administered, with over 660,000 already having received the second dose.